Keen
observer
Bogdan Achimescu (right), artist-in-residence at U.Va. this
semester, shows art students his work called "Shelter,"
a long scroll on which he recorded observations of people while
traveling.

Artist-in-residence
explores exile and inter-relatedness

By
Jane Ford

Mobility
and searching are continuing themes in the work of Bogdan Achimescu,
artist-in-residence at the McIntire Department of Art. Achimescu
is spending the spring semester teaching drawing and advanced print-making.
In addition to artistic technique, he will explore with the students
issues that face artists today such as finding "alternative
galleries" to exhibit their work. Achimescu's latest, "New
Drawings and Prints," will be on display through March 31 at
Fayerweather Gallery. Full story.

Researchers seek objective
way to diagnose attention disorder

By
Cathy Seigerman

A
new study conducted at the U.Va. Health System and Sweet Briar College
is the first in the United States to measure physical brain changes
that could confirm a child's having attention deficit and hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD), one of the most common behavioral problems in children.

"Unlike
diabetes or hypertension, there is currently no way to measure ADHD
objectively," said Dr. Daniel Cox, director of U. Va.'s Behavioral
Medicine Center and principal investigator of the study.

Doctors
currently rely on subjective observations to diagnose ADHD, he said.
"As a result, medications for ADHD, such as Ritalin, may be
overprescribed for children who do not actually have the condition."
Full story.

New
plan gets attention of employees

By
Rebecca Arrington

More
than 70 University employees crammed into a fourth-floor room in
Newcomb Hall March 2 for a press conference of the Labor Action
Group. Members of the group outlined their concerns with the reform
of the classified compensation plan, now up for a vote by the General
Assembly. The employee advocacy group wants the plan, which has
been in the works since 1998, to be postponed for at least one year
so that classified employees can become better informed about it
and have more of a say in it.

U.Va.'s
Chief Human Resource Officer Tom Gausvik, who didn't attend the
press conference, said in a later interview that he expects the
plan currently before the General Assembly to be approved. He said
that the Governor's 1998 Workforce Survey, completed by 45,598 of
the state's 63,000 employees, was an "important tool"
in developing the revised plan and noted that 30,000 hours had been
spent in the last two years on the design of this plan. Full
story.